For the British who shake their head in bemusement at the complexity and fragmentation of the Italian political system, now is the time to be envious. On May the 6th the country goes to vote in probably the most important election since WWII. Unfortunately it is already a dead issue, since the UK will go to the polls to choose between 3 clones: What you will get if you choose either of the three parties, is more of the same policies. One could certainly argue that there was more choice available in Communist Russia than the Brits will get in this election.

In some ways, this lack of options reflects the economic situation in the UK. The grim reality is that there is little to choose from when looking at viable paths for the next few years. There is going to be pain. Heavy taxation with high unemployment and and a constant erosion of infrastructure and public services for some years at least, and that is if all goes well.

The Italians in contrast, for all the irritations of having so many parties from the far right to far left, have a wide array of options to choose from. The Italian system is rotten, but at least it feels like a rotten democracy. The UK looks like a one party semi-benevolent dictatorship.

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So now… one clone has been dismissed! The coalition seems to engender a little more trust than any of the other options.

But regarding the italian system – how can the italians “trust” their party of choice?

The concept of democracy only truly does what it should if you can actually trust the people you vote for to do what they promise. In that sense, the democracy in Italy (and depressingly, pretty much everywhere else!) seems to be a bit of a joke.